USA Today Asks Blake for Public Relations Commentary

Want to know what public relations professionals are saying about the BP oil spill? When looking for answers USA Today approached Lewis Public Relations Principal, Blake Lewis, to share some of his thoughts on BP’s corporate image in light of the oil spill.

After BP cleans up the oil, it has to clean up its image

BP's name now is inextricably linked with the worst man-made environmental disaster in U.S. history. No amount of public relations razzle-dazzle can change that reality.

And while oil still is pouring into the Gulf of Mexico, almost any step that even seems like PR has a risk of backfiring.

"They've created a Frankenstein of a PR problem," says Howard Rubenstein, the New York publicist who cleans up PR messes for some of the nation's top companies, executives and celebrities. "They tried to minimize it at the beginning, but you can't do that in a crisis of this magnitude."